WEATHERING THE WORLD

Recovery in the Wake of the Tsunami in a Tamil Fishing Village

Volume 16

The Asian tsunami in December 2004 was reported on exhaustively all around the world. But this is the first full-length examination of the disaster. Providing an in-depth ethnography of the tsunami and its effects on a fishing village on the coast of Tamil Nadu, India, the author shows how disaster survivors have dealt with the tsunami and worked to regain their confidence in the environment on which they depend for their livelihood. The book testifies to a remarkable local recovery process and demonstrates the survivors’ commitment to restoring a sense of certainty and future possibilities even when faced with disempowering disaster. Furthermore, through its focus on the physicality of disaster, i.e. its particular material character and the environmental dimension of recovery, the book adds new theoretical insight to anthropological studies of disaster that have so far tended to focus more on the politics of disaster than on the materiality of such events.< /p>

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UNVEILING THE WHALE

Discourses on Whales and Whaling

Volume 12

“...a unique work. Surprisingly, perhaps, given the prominence of its subject, there is nothing comparable in the literature. It draws on the author’s decades-long devotion to the topic. As a result, it is rich in its command of the academic, policy, and popular literatures on the subject. It is, simply put, authoritative. It is also convincing.”   •  Michael Dove, Yale University

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MODERN CRISES AND TRADITIONAL STRATEGIES

Local Ecological Knowledge in Island Southeast Asia

Volume 6

"Probably more than any other British anthropologist, Roy Ellen is associated with the study of ethnobiology; his has also long ranked among the leading names in the field... Both readers new to Ellen as well as those already familiar with his work will find this collection rewarding."  •  American Anthropologist

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SUSTAINABILITY AND COMMUNITIES OF PLACE

Volume 5

The concept of sustainability holds that the social, economic, and environmental factors within human communities must be viewed interactively and systematically. Sustainable development cannot be understood apart from a community, its ethos, and ways of life. Although broadly conceived, the pursuit of sustainable development is a local practice because every community has different needs and quality of life concerns. Within this framework, contributors representing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, law, public policy, architecture, and urban studies explore sustainability in communities in the Pacific, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and North America.

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URBAN POLLUTION

Cultural Meanings, Social Practices

Volume 15

“(These essays) are of high academic quality and present often penetrating ethnographic and historical insight into the negotiation of (im)purity in a variety of cultural contexts. They offer a stimulating and engaging read.”  •  Aidan Davison, University of Tasmania

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ETHNOBOTANY IN THE NEW EUROPE

People, Health and Wild Plant Resources

Volume 14

“The text itself is useful, entertaining, and informative. In addition, each chapter is a model for modern ethnobotanical studies. Rather than simply cataloguing plant use, each researcher analyzes the historical, societal, economic, or political aspects relevant to changes in human plant usage. Thus, the authors provide a true ethnobotanical resource that can be instructive to academic audiences  •  Choice

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VIRTUALISM, GOVERNANCE AND PRACTICE

Vision and Execution in Environmental Conservation

Volume 13

“The chapters in the first section provide rich descriptions of environmental discourses, but the true contribution of Virtualism, governance and practice is found in the second section, which explores the relationship between conservation design and conservation execution... Even if [it does] not answer all of the important  questions, succeeds marvelously in posing them in a clear, provocative manner. would be an excellent addition to courses on environmental discourses and community-based conservation. Even more, would be useful reading for any individual who hopes to contribute to the policy and practice of conservation in the twenty-first century.”  •  Focaal

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MOBILITY AND MIGRATION IN INDIGENOUS AMAZONIA

Contemporary Ethnoecological Perspectives

Volume 11

“The authors .. make a convincing collective case for an understanding of ecological knowledge as historically contingent in space as well as time, effectively complementing the importance now placed on local historicity with a sense of different ways of inhabiting and relating to space.”  •  JRAI

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LANDSCAPE, PROCESS AND POWER

Re-evaluating Traditional Environmental Knowledge

Volume 10

In recent years, the field of study variously called local, indigenous or traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) has experienced a crisis brought about by the questioning of some of its basic assumptions. This has included reassessing notions that scientific methods can accurately elicit and describe TEK or that incorporating it into development projects will improve the physical, social or economic well-being of marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume argue that to accurately and appropriately describe TEK, the historical and political forces that have shaped it, as well as people’s day-to-day engagement with the landscape around them must be taken into account. TEK thus emerges, not as an easily translatable tool for development experts, but as a rich and complex element of contemporary lives that should be defined and managed by indigenous and local peoples themselves.

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Nature and Culture

Nature and Culture is a forum for the international community of scholars and practitioners to present, discuss, and evaluate critical issues and themes related to the historical and contemporary relationships that societies, civilizations, empires, regions, nation-states have with Nature. The journal contains a serious interpolation of theory, methodology, criticism, and concrete observation forming the basis of this discussion.

Volume 6/2011, 3 issues p.a.
ISSN: 1558-6073 (Print) ISSN: 1558-5468 (Online)

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Environment and Society

Advances in Research

Published in association with the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Environment and Society publishes critical reviews of the latest research literature including subjects of theoretical, methodological, substantive, and applied significance. Articles also survey the literature regionally and thematically and reflect the work of anthropologists, geographers, environmental scientists, and human ecologists from all parts of the world in order to internationalize the conversations within environmental anthropology, environmental geography, and other environmentally oriented social sciences. The publication will appeal to academic, research and policy-making audiences alike.

Volume 2 (2011), 1 issue p.a.
ISSN: 2150-6779 (Print) ISSN: 2150-6787 (Online)

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